Conventionally, cross fin-type heat exchangers are widely used as heat exchangers for air conditioners. A cross fin-type heat exchanger comprises a plurality of fins arranged at regular intervals and a plurality of refrigerant tubes (heat transfer tubes) that penetrate the fins. Air suctioned into a chassis of the air conditioner is subjected to a heat exchange with a refrigerant that flows through the refrigerant tubes while passing through gaps between the fins of the heat exchanger, and a temperature of the air is adjusted.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a heat exchanger comprising path count modifying means that modifies a path count of whichever has a higher liquid refrigerant ratio between a case where the heat exchanger functions as an evaporator and a case where the heat exchanger functions as a condenser. According to Patent Document 1, a heat exchanger which provides an efficient heat exchanging performance in both cooling and heating operations can be provided.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-278676
Characteristics (for example, wind speed) of a flow of air passing through fins of a heat exchanger is not uniform throughout the entire heat exchanger and varies from portion to portion. However, with the heat exchanger described in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to finely adjust heat exchanging performance for each portion in response to the variation in air flow.